I'm Still Here
by keotey1228
Summary: What happens when a friend goes missing? What if he never really left...
1. Secret Lies With the Milk

"**I'm Still Here" Take 2. This is completely mine. So, HA!**

Janitor Eddy's POV

Another day, another mess. Literally. I'm the janitor a very bad- student ridden high school. These kids act like pigs.

Lunch every day, there is another mess to clean. I've actually seen these kids dump food on the floor just to watch me clean it up. Isn't the world just peachy?

I was cleaning up some kid's throw up out in the hallway during 2nd period, nothing new. Except, (**A.A. I know this part will sound gross) **when I looked into the throw up, I saw a face. **(A.N. Told you)** It disappeared as soon as it appeared, so I blew it off as the toxic fumes of whatever this kid had for breakfast.

Lunch came soon after and, as always, I was the only janitor to clean after the slobs you people call teenagers.

"So she said, and he said…" Blah, blah, blah, popular girls.

"Who's ready for football!" Blah, blah, blah, popular boys.

"Where's my vitamins?" Blah, blah, blah, nerds.

"…" Blah, blah, blah, Goths. As usual, not a word.

At a table, far separated from the others, sat a girl with tangled blonde hair and an outfit to match her personality. In other words, it was bleached. She sat alone, with no one even daring to go near her.

They all knew about her friend, and even more about her anger issues.

"Hey," said a boy, as he walked up with a few other boys to a table that was occupied by the girl. She groaned, and lifted her head to see her friends set their trays down. She saw that the one friend that talked had an extra pizza on his tray, and raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's yours. You need to eat." He told her, his voice full of encouragement.

"No, Milton," the girl said, putting her head back down.

"Why, Kim?" Milton asks

"What if Jack's dead, he can't eat," Kim said matter of factly. "I shouldn't eat either."

"What if he's not dead?" Eddie asked. "What if he comes back, and you end up dying because you don't eat?" He stared at his friend, who didn't look up.

"Notice how many what-if's there were right there." Kim moaned.

I was not eavesdropping. I was simply walking by and happened to hear their conversation.

"But, Kim…" Milton insisted.

"I said no!" Kim screamed, lifting her head abruptly. In the process, she knocked over her friend's milk carton, spilling it all over the table.

"Surprise, surprise," I muttered. "Didn't see that coming." I walked over to the table of friends, who had stood up to avoid the milk dripping onto their laps.

I saw the milk had dripped to the floor already. I sighed and kneeled down with my washcloth, the one that had been stained with ketchup, mustard, and the slop you people call school lunches.

I wiped the floor till it was shiny, seriously, shiny. It was wet from the water. I stood up and saw the kids were gone.

'Poor kids, they must really miss their friend…' I thought, as I walked over to where we kept our 'Wet Floor' signs.

When I turned around to put the sign down, I saw something on the milk still on the table. A simple sentence was written out in the liquid.

"I'm Still Here"

**So this… is mine. You can't claim it. You know who you are if you try to claim it yours, but it's not. So, again, HA!**


	2. Hannah has Changed

**So I was thinking about how to continue this story. I thought of the most perfect idea. It did seem hard, yeah, I admit that. But it seemed worth trying. Tell me how I did. **

No POV

"Kim, open this door." Jerry said, for about the fifth time in the last minute. He knocked on it again, and Kim finally answered.

"Go away." She said shakily. Jerry hit his head on the door.

"Kim, we didn't want to do this, but you leave us no choice." He looked back to Eddie and Milton, and stood back.

"Stand back," He ran forward and crashed into Kim's door.

"Jerry, have you tried opening the door?" Eddie asked, walking forward.

"Of course I've tried..." Eddie twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

"Well sure," Jerry mumbled. They walked inside to see Kim lying on the floor. She was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her head was resting on her arms, and her knees were bent.

"What are you doing?" Milton asked, looking at her. She was lying right next to her bed, but refused to lay on it.

"Looking at Jack." Kim answered simply.

"Huh?" Jerry asked. Eddie walked over to Kim, and lied down on the ground right next to her.

"That's a good picture." He said.

"Huh?" Milton asked. They turned their heads to look at what they were staring. They both walked to their friends and lied down next to them.

"It really was a good picture of us." Jerry agreed.

"Yeah, you guys remember when we took that picture?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah, it was right after the tournament." Milton said.

"Only reason I remembered it was because Milton..." Jerry laughed.

"No, no, no. Please don't mention..." Milton sat up.

"You tripped and when you got up, you asked what hit you." Eddie sat up too, and smiled.

"We looked behind you and there was a ladybug on the ground." Jerry smiled, and sat up too.

"It wasn't my fault," Milton said, looking to his left at Eddie. "The ladybug was fat..." He looked to his right, at Jerry. Both friends were laughing. Eddie and Jerry sat back at the same time, which was just a coincidence.

"It's not funny..." Milton muttered, and sat back.

"You tripped on a bug." Jerry said. Milton passed a 'whatever', and they were quiet, looking at the picture. It was a picture of them on the sidewalk, right after they 'bug' incident. Jack was holding the camera, while he and Kim were smiling at each other, faces inches apart. Jerry was leaning on a sheepish Milton's shoulder, laughing. His eyes were closed, along with Eddie, who was leaning on his knees to keep from falling over.

The picture was taped to Kim's ceiling, as to what they were looking at.

"Kim?" Eddie asked, looking to said friend, noticing that she hadn't talked. He sat up, and looked at Kim's closed eyes.

"Hmm?" Kim asked, not opening her eyes.

"You okay?" Milton asked, sitting up. Kim shrugged her shoulders.

"You hungry?" Jerry asked, sitting up to joining his friends. Kim shrugged again.

"I know you're hungry, Kim. Come downstairs and eat. Your mom was making your favorite." He said, standing up.

"Come on." He reached his hand down for Kim. She didn't move, talk, or open her eyes. Jerry sighed and leaned down. He reached his hands under Kim, and picked her up.

"Jerry, when did you get so strong?" Milton asked, standing up. He walked over to the door and opened it. Jerry gave him a look that said, 'You know who.' Milton nodded, getting the message.

Jerry walked downstairs and set Kim down on the couch, which still hadn't moved.

"Kim, you know..." Milton started.

"Shhh, Hannah Montana is back on!" Said Claire, Kim's little sister. She was sitting on the floor in front of the TV, playing with her Barbie.

"Claire, sweetey. You've seen that episode a hundred times. What don't you go clean your room?" Kim's mom asked, walking into the room with a towel in her hands.

"No!" Claire screamed, throwing her Barbie at the TV. "This is my favorite episode!" Her mom sighed and walked back into the kitchen.

"Kim, here's your soup." Her mom came back out with a bowl. Kim opened one eye.

"Creamy onion?" She asked. Her mom smiled and put the bowl on the coffee table. She walked back into the kitchen and Kim sat up. She reached for the soup and slurped some down.

Jerry smiled at her, finally eating. He looked up and saw a flash pass in front of a mirror.

"What was...?" He started, pointing at the mirror.

"Shhh, I wanna sing." Claire said, not looking up from the screen which showed Miley and her dad sitting on a bench, talking.

"You don't wanna interrupt her," Kim's eyes seemed to say.

"So I might slip again, let it in now and then, that don't mean anything, I'm still good." Claire sang with her idol.

"I look around me," Claire sang, but the TV sang something different.

"Where did I go now?"

"Mommy!" Claire screamed, running into the kitchen, noticing how the TV sang the wrong words.

"Why am I leaving?" The four friends stared at the TV, knowing that the lyrics were wrong as well.

"Isn't right for me. Why am I going... the other way? Where would I go, now?" Hannah's lips moved as is the lyrics were hers, but they weren't.

"I don't know why, why I am gone. It's not supposed to... be this way. So why are we split... away from each other? Away from you?" They all stared as Hannah kept singing.

"Why am I, lost to you? From the world and natural things? But that doesn't matter now, I'm still here. Trying to, fix it up, make it better, make it right. Back to where I began, I'm still here. I'm still here! I'm still here!" As the song ended, Kim paused the TV. She looked up her open mouthed friends, with her, like her friends, mouth wide open.

"What just happened?" She asked.

"Maybe they messed up the recording." Jerry said. He grabbed the remote from Kim and re-winded to the beginning of the song.

"See mommy!" Claire said, dragging her mom into the room.

"Kim, Claire says that Hannah Montana is broken," she said with a look of disbelief on her face. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"The words," Kim said, and motioned for Jerry to press play.

"So I might slip again, let it in now and then, that don't mean anything, I'm still good." Hannah sang.

"Seems right," Mrs. Crawford said.

"It didn't start till now. Shhh!" Jerry said, motioning her to be quiet.

"I look around me, how did I get here? Not part of my plan..." Hannah kept singing, but Kim and her friends stared at the TV.

"Hannah's fixed!" Claire screamed jumping up and down.

"Well, if that's what you wanted to show me, I'll get back to cleaning the soup that Claire threw against the wall." She walked back into the kitchen.

"No way, I was... she sang... that's not." Eddie stuttered.

"Jerry, go back!" Kim scrambled for the remote.

"Okay, I'm going!" Jerry shouted pressing rewind and swatted Kim's hand away. The screen went back to where Miley was getting off her horse and she's calling her dad.

"Dad, I am so sorry." She hugged her dad.

"Why? Did your better offer cancel on Ya?"

"No. You are my better offer. I've been stupid, and selfish, and I'm a horrible daughter." She hugged him again.

"But not as horrible as I am a son," Jackson called from inside, guitar still on his foot. "Let's not forget that."

"Mile, what's this all about?" Robby asked.

"I'm just really lucky to have you, and..." A staticky noise came from the TV.

"... guys, I'm still here."

**Song was I'm Still Good by Hannah Montana. I was watching TV, and this was on, the only thing on, and this song was on, and the name was close to my name of this story. I changed some of the lyrics to make it make sense, and no, it's not mine. Here were my lyrics...**

**Where did I go now? Why am I leaving? Isn't right for me. Why am I going... the other way? Where would I go, now? I don't know why, why I am gone. It's not supposed to... be this way. So why are we split... away from each other? Away from you? Why am I, lost to you, from the world and natural things, but that doesn't matter now, I'm still here. Trying to, fix it up, make it better, make it right. Back to where I began, I'm still here. I'm still here! I'm still here!**


	3. Evidence

Kim POV

"Phase 1." Jerry took my purple ruler off my desk and slapped it against my wall where a piece of notebook paper was taped.

It was a list of all the strange things they've seen.

Hannah was singing the wrong words + "… guys, I'm still here."

That was it.

Jerry looked at the list. "Wait…" He grabbed a fuzzy pen off the desk and wrote a number 2.

I looked up and read it.

Saw a flash in the downstairs mirror.

"Really?" I asked. He nodded and tapped the pen to his lip.

"I think we got some good progress," He shook the pen and turned to look at us. "Two is better than…"

"Wait," I said. I stood up and walked over to Jerry. "Pen?" He handed me the pen and I wrote a number 3.

Words were written in the milk at school. 'I'm Still Here'.

The three guys stared at me as I sat down. "Wha…"

"I've been thinking about it ever since," I said. "At first I thought it was my imagination, but now it's fitting pretty well in the category of weird things that keep happening to us."

"Guys," Milton said, his voice full of I'm-freaked-out. "I think Jack is trying to get our attention."

**Dun, dun, dun. Am I evil enough to end it here…? Yeah. I am. **

**Okay. I need you guys' help! There was a guest review on another story of mine that I wanna find. She asked if she could write a sequel to one of my one-shots, and I reviewed that one-shot that she could. I don't think she'll ever see the review, so I REALLY wanna find her. She says she usually signs her review Derpgirl (says her), but on the review she posted on my story, it was Guest. She didn't leave an account name, and I really wanna find her to see if she did make sequel, 'cause if she did, I wanna read it.**

**Thanks!**


	4. Cups and Texts

**I am continuing writing, actually all of my stories that are currently out so far, but I am a major funk, writer's block, I guess. Once I get my motivation back, I will keep writing (hopefully this weekend because my dad's out of town and I'm going to have some time, but I have to decide which ones I need to update first because I haven't updated any in a while. I actually like to go for the stories that have a request to be updated soon, first. Even before ones that haven't been updated in months. If you really want me to update one of my stories, PM me or leave a review and I will bump your request to the top of my to-do list. Seriously. I have an actual to-do list on what I need to update.**

**I have to write and update 19 stories. I also have 10 stories planned out that I need to write and publish.**

**Wish me luck.**

**Thank you .Try. for the inspiration to update this story after... omigosh. Has it really been a year now..?**

**Eek. Sowwy.**

"How in the world could Jack change the words to a song on TV, make a flash in a mirror, and write in milk, all without us even seeing anything?!" Jerry took a breath.

"Jerry. Calm down. I's not like anything supernatural is happening here..." I breathed a short, dim-witted laugh. It was airy, and obviously not believable. I sat down on my bean bag chair, as Milton had taken to lying on my bed.

He hadn't said anything, and neither had Eddie, who was positioned in my desk chair, just tapping a random rhythm on the desk.

I grabbed my cup from the floor and noticed the ice melted. I drank it all down and set it back on the floor, noticing the condensation on the floor that I'm going to have to wipe up later.

I tried to meet each of my friends eyes. Eddie's closed, Milton's unseen, and Jerry's confused ones. Nobody had a clue what to think, and nobody knew what to do.

I sighed and sank further into the beanbag chair. I yelped and jumped up, startling the others in response. "What?"

I turned back and looked down at the purple chair. I bent on my knees and felt the place where I had been sitting. I didn't feel anything. Just the small beads from the inside. Nothing. "It's nothing."

They stared at me, and I could tell they were a bit concerned. I just shrugged it off and cautiously sat back down in the chair. The room once again fell into silence.

Tap, tap. Tap tap tap. Tap, tap, tap.

The beat was soothing. It seemed peculiar. As if it was missing something.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.

Now it seemed familiar. I opened my eyes slightly, just enough to see everyone else with their eyes closed. I flicked my eyes to the right and saw Eddie still tapping. He didn't even seem to notice he was doing it.

Tap, tap. Tap tap tap. Tap, tap, tap.

"What's that from?" I finally asked. The guys all opened their eyes.

"Huh?" Milton asked. I pointed to Eddie, and he just stared at me. "What do you mean?"

I stared at him, confused. Did he not know he was tapping? "The thing you were tapping?"

"I was tapping..?" I rolled my eyes. "Ugh... guys."

They stared at me. I shrugged it off and just leaned my head back. Silent, until...

Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.

"How do you not know you're doing that?" Eddie looked back at me like I was crazy.

"I heard it this time," Jerry said, and Milton nodded. Eddie looked at us, each confused. "Are you sure it was me tapping?"

I nodded. "Yes. I saw you tapping."

"What was I tapping..?" I thought for a second. I could also tell Jerry and Milton were thinking. My eyes widened. I flipped sideways and grabbed my cup. I leaned forward in my chair and put the cup open side down on the floor

Clap, clap. Tap tap tap. Clap, up, down. Clap side hand rim hand pat down.

I looked up at my friends as they finally realized that this was the Cup Song.

"Isn't that from that chic flic you made us watch?" Jerry asked. I nodded.

"Why would I be tapping a song from the movie Pitch Perfect..?" **(Great movie. Watch it. Great song. Look it up) **Eddie asked. I pursed my lip and took out my iPhone from my pocket.

I clicked on the YouTube app after typing in m password. 1124. The day Jack went missing.

I typed in "cup song" and clicked the first video. "I've got my ticket for a long way round. Two bottles of whiskey for the way. And I sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow what do you say? When I'm gone, when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my hair, you're gonna miss me everywhere, oh. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."

I noticed the guys sitting next to me. "I've got my ticket for the long way round. The one with the prettiest of views. It's got mountains, it's got rivers, it's got sights to give you shivers, but it sure would be prettier with you. When I'm gone, when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my walk, you're gonna miss me by my talk, oh. **(Who else thinks it sounds like taco..?) **You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."

"What does this mean..?" Eddie asked. "I didn't even know I was tapping a song that I barely even know. I've seen the movie once and I have a bad memory! That's why I keep a friendship diary!"

I clicked my tongue. Something I do when I'm thinking deeply. Milton made a somewhat hissing sound in his mouth, something he does when he has an idea but he doesn't want to share it.

"What, Milton? What are you thinking?" He paused and shook his head, thinking it over.

"I'm thinking something stupid and pretty supernatural."

Eddie gave a dry laugh. "What, that Jack took over my body and sent subliminal messages to my hand to tell it to tap the rhythm of a song we all watched, together..." He slowed down at the end, as if the pieces were fitting and his story made some sense.

"Jack does have a good memory..." I mumbled.

We were all silent. "What are the words..?" Jerry asked.

I closed out of YouTube and opened up the internet. I typed in "cup song lyrics". I clicked the first choice and read the first line of words.

"I've got my ticket for a long way round." Nobody answered, and I kept reading. "Two bottles of whiskey for the way. And I sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow what do you say? When I'm gone, when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my hair, you're gonna miss me everywhere, oh. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."

"Whiskey..?" Milton asked. "Why would Jack say whiskey?" I clicked my tongue and thought back to the time Jack's deceased brother convinced us to have a drink. Two bottles of whiskey. I said nothing.

"What was that second line?" Eddie asked.

"And I sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow what do you say?"

"Company. He's lonely. He, um..." Jerry twirled his finger in the air as if he could wrap it around the answer. "He can't talk to anybody? Maybe he's trying to talk to us, because he got kidnapped and he's sending signs, but can't talk to us directly..?"

I nodded slowly, taking it in. "I'm leaving tomorrow what do you say? What the heck does that mean?"

Milton scratched his head, thinking about his own answer before grabbing my math notebook from my desk and flipping to a random lank page. He started to write down our theories and finished in about a minute. Meanwhile, I was studying the next part.

'When I'm gone, when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my hair, you're gonna miss me everywhere, oh. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone.'

I said that out loud and then gave my thoughts. "I do miss him. We all do. His hair..." I looked at Jerry to see me smiling. He mouthed, 'admit it.'

"I miss his hair..." I mumbled. "We do miss him everywhere. Everywhere I go, I see him, and know he's not there. I do miss when he's gone..."

I sighed slowly and looked down at my lap, just staring. Jerry grabbed my phone and read the next part.

"I've got my ticket for the long way round. A ticket..?" I shrugged. Milton wrote down the words and put a question mark.

"The one with the prettiest of views. It's got mountains, it's got rivers, it's got sights to give you shivers, but it sure would be prettier with you."

All three guys looked to me. I rolled my eyes. "I assume he doesn't mean one person, meaning me. That he means all of us."

"Ookay... but what about a long way round? One with mountains, rivers, and sights to give you shivers?" Jerry studied the group,

"Is there any places in towns that have mountains, rivers, and apparently beautiful sights?" Eddie asked. Milton took out his phone to look it up, and so did Eddie. I grabbed my phone back from Jerry who took his own phone out of his pocket.

I opened a new tab and typed "mountains with rivers in Seaford". Several results, and I had barely clicked the first one before Milton jumped up. "I think I have it!"

I looked at the screen to see a mountain called Mt. Seaford with a small river running right up it** (made that up)**.

"Is this the only mountain with rivers?" I asked Milton. He began to write as he kept talking.

"Well, no. There are other mountains, but none have rivers. There is one other mountain with a river, but the views are the prettiest."

I nodded and reopened the tab with the lyrics. "When I'm gone, when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my walk, you're gonna miss me by my talk, oh. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."

"Again with the 'when I'm gone' thing. But do we miss him by his walk, or his talk?" Jerry asked.

I nodded. "He always walks so proud and leader-like. His voice is strong and confident, and don't say anything about it. We're friends."

They nodded, not wanting to argue. This was all so much to take it in.

I yelped and jumped back out of my chair again. "What is that?!"

The guys just stared at me. I bent down and found the zipper to the bean bag chair. I saw another zipper, and unzipped that one. I reached my hand in and moved it all around.

I noticed the guys silence as they watched me, wondering what I was doing.

I curled my fingers around something rectangular and carefully pulled it out. I turned my head away, closing my eyes.

I heard the guys gasp as they saw what was in my hand. I turned slowly and opened my eyes. In my hand was a phone with a picture of us, Rudy, and Jack. It was Jack's cellphone.

The screen was still lit up. There were several texts on the screen, but the most recent one was only a minute ago. The second most recent one was about twenty minutes ago.

"What do they say..?" Jerry asked. I opened up the one that was sent twenty minutes ago and scanned the text. They all tried to see around my hair, but I leaned back and showed it to them.

"R u guys okay? Please tell me u weren't taken too," Eddie read it out loud. The number had our area code, but it was unknown.

I scrolled to find the most recent one. It was from the same unknown number. I read it out loud. "Everything you know is not what you think."

The text was different. The format had changed from the first text. Words were shortened in the first one, like Jack used to do. The second one had two spaces instead of one. Words were spelled right and the sentence was punctuated correctly, as if they actually had time to type.

Like the first person that texted was running out of time.

**Yes, yes, yes. I know that this hasn't been updated in a year. I'm sorry, and I'm double sorry there is nothing I can do about that.**

**I made this one long just for you.**

**And about the whole Jack's phone thing, for some reason the police could track the phone.**

**Tootles!**


	5. What If He's Still There?

**So… I'm kinda gonna try and write some more stuff. Honestly, I've been doing absolutely nothing but ifunny and reading other fanfictions since summer started. I've been super lazy and haven't written anything, so I'm gonna try and get back to it. I wanted to finish all the stories I have out right now but that's probably not gonna happen. I'll just try and get as close as I can. **

**I also got a review saying I had to update by next Friday, so… *opens curtains***

**(I dunno how well this is gonna turn out, so… Wish me luck)**

I turned off Jack's phone and threw the blankets off of me. My eyes scanned the dark room, trying to find the source of the noise I just heard.

Nothing.

I breathed deeply. 'I'm just really wound up right now. Calm down, Kim.' I turned back to Jack phone and turned it on. It automatically opened, with no password. He never put one on because he claimed he had "nothing to hide."

It helps me so I don't have to go look at Google for how to break someone passcode.

I continued where I was in Jack's gallery. I scrolled to the top and started with the most recent pictures at least a half hour ago. I looked at each picture as if the first time. Each one had so many memories.

I came across the last picture in the gallery. It was same picture that was taped to my ceiling, except one thing was missing. Jack. His picture looked like it was photo-shopped out, and in its place was a blank space.

My eyes widened as I considered the possibilities. The most likely: the picture was made by the person who took Jack.

My mind then wandered to the question that has been on my mind since the guys left to go home a few hours prior. 'How did Jack's phone come to be in my possession?"

I figured that Jack's captor put it there, and my eyes wandered around my room to see if Jack's captor was still there. I knew he wouldn't be, but it made me feel better knowing he had left.

If the person who took Jack got into her room, he could get back in.

Suddenly, I didn't feel so safe in my room. I opened the door to my bedroom and peeked out. I saw my parents' bedroom door open at the end of the hallway. I made a decision and silently gathered a few things and shoved them inside my blanket and balled it up.

I quietly walked down the hallway and entered my parents' room. My dad's snoring covered up the sounds of me lying down. I stretched myself out on the floor and covered myself in my blanket.

I felt safer. I pulled out my own phone and saw that I had just gotten a text a few minutes ago. Milton. He asked me if I was still awake.

_Yeah. Y r u?_

_**Couldn't sleep. Too much on my mind. **_

I remembered that Milton hated it when I shorted words, so I changed how I wrote.

_What are you thinking about?_

I felt one of my parents move around in the bed and I quickly turned off my phone. When they stopped moving, I waited an extra second and then looked at my phone again.

_**Jack.**_

_Me too. I can't help but wonder all of this stuff. _

_**I know. Wanna talk about it?**_

I thought about the question. I wasn't sure if meant if I wanted to talk to talk about my feelings or about Jack's disappearance and all the clues to lead up for us to believe he didn't actually disappear.

_Sure._

_**Okay, so. We could start with number 1. How could a TV show song's lyrics be changed on the TV?**_

_That I'm not sure about._

_**Okay. Number 2. Jerry said he saw a flash in the downstairs mirror. Do you believe him?**_

_I don't see why not._

_**Let's get technical. Bear with me. Where is your downstairs mirror?**_

_In the hallway._

_**Which hallway?**_

_The one where the stairs are. _

_**Isn't your backdoor on the opposite end of that hallway?**_

_Yeah._

_**And where do the stairs lead?**_

_They're the back stairs to the second story. _

_**What's closest to the top of those stairs?**_

I thought about it, and realized it was the stairs that were right next to my room.

_My room._

It took him a second to reply, and I started to think too. 'Was the flash someone coming into my house..?'

_**I think I know how Jack's phone got in your room. **_

_How?_

_**It's just a guess, but I think that Jack came into your house from the backdoor to go up the backstairs right next to your room. The flash was the light of his phone, which he put in your room while we went downstairs. **_

_How did we miss him though? We went down those stairs, were right next to those stairs when Jerry saw the flash. There's no way he could've gotten by._

_**Well, by the time that Jerry saw the flash and turned around to look, Jack could've been halfway up the stairs by now.**_

_And Jerry couldn't see up the stairs?_

_**He was probably standing at an indirect angle and could not see far up the stairs. **_

_Okay. So let's say he got in like that. How could he have gotten out?_

I didn't get an answer for a few minutes, and I knew that Milton had thought of something, and was still trying to work out the details in his head.

_**KIM. JACK PROGRAMMED SOMETHING IN THE TV AND THE SONG CHANGED TO HIS LIKING TO KIND OF TELL US WHATS GOING ON. AND THE ENDING, "… guys, I'm still here."… He was probably still in your house. **_

_What are you talking about? Slow down._

_**Jack must've programmed the TV somehow to give us a message. **_

_I got that part… _

_**Jack said that he was still there, and the static was probably it switching it from the song to a walkie-talkie.**_

_And Jack actually said those words at that time and it was sent to my TV..?_

_**And if he said them at that time…**_

… _Then he was there… He was in my house…_

I needed a minute. I quietly got up and ran out of my parents' bedroom. I turned into the bathroom, shut the door, and turned on the lights. I sat down on the toilet lid. I started to cry at Jack being in my house, but I didn't even know.

I wiped my face for a few minutes as tears kept spilling down. I eventually stopped and went back into my parents' room and lied back down.

I turned on my phone to see 5 texts from Milton.

_**He definitely wanted to talk to us. I don't know why he didn't just meet us downstairs.**_

_**Or even upstairs in your room when we were talking. **_

… _**Maybe he didn't want to be downstairs. Maybe… I don't know. Maybe he thought that downstairs wasn't safe. Isn't your 2**__**nd**__** story sealed in? No windows, or balconies? Only access to the 2**__**nd**__** floor is from the two stairs.**_

_**Maybe he thought that the downstairs wasn't safe. And… he set the recording as a "hey, guys. I'm still here. Come upstairs" kind of thing.**_

_**And then he left you his phone. He wanted to tell you where he was hiding in your house, maybe? **_

A new text came in as I was typing a reply. My heart stopped.

_**What if he's still there..?**_


	6. Suit

**I started to write this right after I posted the last chapter, and I wanted to wait a bit to post it. **

I opened the last door on the top floor: my sister's bedroom. I had avoided searching in it for Jack since I began searching for him about 15 minutes ago.

I quietly crept in, trying not to wake up my sister. She was sleeping soundlessly on her bed in the far corner. I checked her closet first, then in all the places Jack could possibly fit.

I crawled under her bed and reached around since I couldn't see. I felt nothing but toys. I crawled back out, and nearly screamed.

My sister was awake and looking right at me. She smiled an innocent smile, and I sighed in relief. I was a little on edge because of this whole "Jack" business. I took a few deep breaths before facing my sister again.

She slid out of her bed and sat against the wall next to me when I made eye contact with her. She snuggled against me and pulled her blanket off the bed. I wrapped it around us let her wrap herself around me.

Claire then brought up the subject of why I was in her room late at night. "What are you looking for?"

I decided not to tell her a lot instantly. She was only 7. "Nothing."

"I know you were looking for something. Why would it be in my room?"

"I don't know. I just had a feeling that it would be upstairs, and it could be anywhere."

She was silent before continuing. "What was it you were looking for?"

"Nothing."

"I know it's something." I looked at her, and I knew she wasn't going to give up. She was always persuasive and always got her way.

"I was looking for someone."

"And he could be anywhere in the upstairs?"

"Well… I don't know. I just have a feeling that he could be…"

She nodded, and I scrunched my eyebrow. 'How did she know who I was looking for was a he?' I asked her so and she responded, "Was it Suit?"

"Suit?"

She nodded. "Suit. Were you looking for Suit?"

"What suit..?" I was a little cautious on what she was saying. She was only 7, and there no way she knew what was going on.

"Not an object. His name is Suit. Well, I nicknamed him Suit."

I thought about my next question. "You met a guy, who wears a suit..?"

She nodded. "He was here last night. He didn't seem very nice."

"Why, didn't he seem nice..?"

She paused and then tried to remember. "Well… he was coming down from upstairs after you and the boys went up to your room. He put a finger to his lips so I wouldn't say anything. I copied him, and stayed quiet."

"He wanted you to be quiet because he was in our house. Why didn't you tell anyone? He could've taken something."

"Well…" She paused and thought for a bit, as if trying to remember why she didn't tell anyone. "He was only carrying one thing and it didn't belong to us."

I looked at her, and she was serious. She wasn't lying. You can always tell when she's lying. "Why did you let him take it, though?"

"I thought that maybe it was his…"

"Claire," I was scared by now, but I was going to figure this out. "What did, Suit, take..?"

"I don't know who it was-"

"He took a person!?"

She nodded slowly, as if embarrassed. "I think it was a boy. He was your age, but he was dressed totally weird. I couldn't see who he was because he was over Suit's shoulder. When Suit turned around and started to walk towards the back door, I saw the back of his head, but his face was covered by his hair."

I tried to comprehend all of this. "What color was his hair?"

"He didn't have any hair. He was bald."

"The boy..? I thought you said he had hair…"

She giggled. "Oh. I thought you meant Suit… No. The boy had hair. It was… It was a brown."

I closed my eyes as I tried to process all of this. I stayed silent, and so did Claire. 'Jack. Was in my house. And he was kidnapped, again. In my house. And none of us noticed. Oh gosh… He was trying to get help from us, and we let him get taken…'

Claire tried to snuggle closer to me, but I jumped up. She looked at me shocked as I left the room. "Kim…"

I stopped and waited for to talk again. "Do you know the boy...?"

I leaned against the door frame, my eyes spinning, and my mind swimming in thoughts. I clutched the wood, and tried not to curse myself, for my little sister's sake. She didn't need to see that.

I nodded. "He's a friend…"


	7. The Best Clues Are In The Trash

**Yeup. Haven't updated in a year. Well, for this story, only a few more chapters. I worked out some logistics so hopefully this story will be easy to finish. **

I couldn't sleep. That's how I found myself standing outside of Milton's house, wondering to myself what exactly I was doing there. To inform him of my conversation with Claire? Talk to him some more? Go on a walk? I didn't know. So all I did was stare up at the lit window that concealed his bedroom, signaling he was still awake. I picked up a rock, thinking about doing the whole throw-the-rock-at-the-window-to-get-your-attention thing, but I put it back down. Pulling out my phone, I texted him to come downstairs.

Less than a minute later, I saw the blinds move apart to show his face looking down. Feeling awkward and somewhat embarrassed, I waved. Letting the blinds fall back into place, he made his way downstairs.

I waited as he opened the door and made his way out, checking to be sure it was unlocked. "Kim?"

"I was thinking... we need to talk. All of us," I played with my hands, unsure of what to say. "Is now a bad time?"

Milton laughed. "Well it's only..." He looked at his phone. "3:34 in the morning, but yeah. Now's good."

"I'll text the guys. Where should we meet?" I pulled out my phone and started a group message.

"I'd suggest not at your place," Milton opened the door, grabbed his set of keys before locking and closing it. He made his way across his yard to where I was standing. "With the whole it's-probably-not-safe scenario."

I nodded and erased "meet at my house". "So where should we go?"

"We could always go to the park. It's never closed..."

I frowned. With all the creepiness going on, I didn't need to be in a deserted park with only the squeaky sounds of swings swaying back and forth. "How about the dojo? I know it's not open, but we could sit outside."

Milton smiled. "Whatever floats your boat."

I wrote that and sent it. _We need to talk. Meet at the dojo. _

...

Leaning against the wall, Eddie walked up. "Sorry guys. Got caught and had to sneak out."

"S'alright." I scoot over to make a bit more room against the dojo's walls because Jerry felt the need to lay down.

"Okay. Let's talk. What up?" He mumbled with his eyes closed. I took a deep breath and told them all about my talk with Claire. Milton and I then explained our thoughts from our texts.

"So you think that Jack was in your house..?" Eddie asked. Jerry sat up, knowing he was now too tired to sleep. "And who is the 'Suit' guy?"

"I do think he was. Who else would Suit be taking? And he's probably Jack's kidnapper trying not to let Jack get away and reveal his identity."

"You think Jack knows who took him?"

I paused. No one said anything and just let the question hang over our heads. Suit could be someone Jack knew, and for all we know, we could know him too. He could be right under our noses.

"Claire would have told you if she knew who it was, so that can eliminate everyone she knows." Milton got to his knees and re-positioned himself. Before he could kneel back to the ground, he stood back up. "What's that?"

He started to walk over the other side of the mall, near Filafel Phil's. He stopped at a trash can. We all stood up and walked over. Looking down into the bin, all of our eyes widened. We shared glances with each others.

I stuttered. "It can't be his..."

"Only one way to find out." Jerry pulled the skateboard out of the trash. Flipping automatically to the back and seeing the indicating feature showed my handwriting, from my constant attempts to put his name on it, spelling _Jack Brewer. _


	8. In the End

**Last chapter ya'll. Found a good ending, but nothing like I had first intended it to go. **

Sitting on my beanbag, I rolled Jack's skateboard back and forth with my foot. Jack's parents had hired a private investigator when he had gone missing, and he had given me a card in case I found something out. I had a lot to tell him.

He promised he would be here at 4. It's 5:47 and he still hasn't shown up. I stared out my window as the guys talked behind me. They hadn't left since we had found his skateboard over 12 hours ago. I wasn't paying attention to anything they were doing, but I was sure they were compiling a list of our thoughts, theories, and findings.

Sighing, I got out of the chair and started to pace. I eventually sat down on the skateboard. The guys hadn't even noticed. They were still writing. They discussed things and ignored me unless I said something.

A doorbell broke their chatter. I nearly broke my door on the way downstairs.

I opened the door to find Neutral Nathan standing outside. His face still showed nothing, which probably would be better off in a court room than with grieving friends and family.

"Sorry I'm late. " I knew he wasn't. "But I have some good news."

I turned to find the guys just coming down the stairs and my mom just exiting the kitchen. "I have someone at the hospital I want you to meet."

...

I walked up to the room, 221, expecting to throw myself onto a hospital bed and run my hands through messy brown hair, yelling to never scare me again. I wasn't allowed to enter the room yet.

Nathan sat us all down on the chairs to explain things to us. I sat in between Jerry and Eddie, who had Milton on one side and Jack's parents on the other. "Jack isn't there."

I stared at him. No one said anything.

"We have guys going to get him now, but we have someone in here who has some explaining to do. He asked to talk to you guys with me listening off to the side."

We all sat and stared before agreeing and getting up. Opening the door to 221, I saw brown hair, but not the kind I was expecting. This hair was super long and almost girl-like. It was messy, but not Jack-messy. He had new bruises on his face and a broken arm. He looked familiar.

"Don't you work at Filafel Phil's?" I pointed at him and he smiled. We all took seats around his bed. "And you go to school with us?"

"I thought you would recognize me."

We all sat in silence before I motioned for him to talk. "Oh, right. Sorry. I have a concussion. Okay... well, it's a long story. I was cleaning up at Phil's after closing when I saw a man in a mask trying to break in. I hid quickly. The lights were already off because I have blue eyes and they're sensitive and that's always been- uhm never mind. I peaked behind the counter to see that he was having trouble breaking in. I noticed Jack walk out of the dojo."

"He was locking up because he wanted to stay late." I told him and the guys nodded in agreement

"Yeah. And they started to fight. I tried to stay hidden, but I watched the fight. I saw Jack fall to the ground and I winced. I don't like fighting and I was afraid to watch. When I looked back up I saw him pick up Jack. I yelled at him and he looked at me. Before I could even get to the door, he had fled. So I went to school..."

"Wait, wait." Nathan lifted his hands and pushed off against the wall. "Why didn't you come forward then?"

"I was scared," the boy tried to defend himself. "I was afraid. I thought he saw me and if I came forward and ratted on him, he would be able to find me and get to me before the police could get to him."

Nathan raised his hands in surrender and backed against the wall again.

"So I went to school the next day. I looked for Jack every day since he was missing, hoping he would be okay. But then I saw you guys and I kinda overheard your conversation about him being missing still. I was still afraid to talk to you. I'm kinda paranoid. Okay, a lot paranoid. So I said nothing and when you spilled the milk and left without taking your backpack, I knew you would have to come back so I wrote in the milk the first thing I could think of which was "I'm still here" and I'm not exactly sure why I wrote it because I used 'I'm' instead of 'he's' but I panicked and I had a only a few seconds before the janitor got up from under the table and I was trying to be inconspicuous so I tried to be quick and-"

"Slow down, slow down..." I got him to stop talking. "You wrote that?"

He nodded. I looked at the guys. Jerry pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to me. It was the list. "Okay. What about the Hannah Montana song. How did the words change?"

"Oh yeah! That was me too. I got into your house from the back because I was scared I was being watched. I saw your back set of stairs and started going up by the time you guys were coming down. When I got to the top, I found your closet and got inside. I knew I couldn't go downstairs in fear of being watched so I have to get you upstairs. I brought my laptop and since I didn't know any of your phone numbers, so I did something a bit easier."

"Tampering like that on my TV is easy for you?" I was astounded.

He smiled. "My dad's a tech person and I've been learning from him since I was born so this was no challenge. I could see what was on the TV and saw that you were watching it from the beginning so I knew it would be finished. I jumped ahead on the words to changed the lyrics of the song."

"You can actually do that? Change the words and have them be said?" Milton was amazed.

"It's easy for someone who is experienced on these types of things. So I noticed that you re-winded it and my change hadn't saved when I exited out of it, hoping you would come up. And then I saw you guys re-winded it again and so I cut in on the frequency and told you guys that I was still here. I saw that you stopped re-winding and was just waiting inside the closet for you to come up. I guess I didn't hear you guys coming up and so I was concerned when you didn't come up. I texted Jack's phone-"

"And you put Jack's phone in my beanbag. If you were in my room, why didn't you just wait in there?"

"Absolutely no signal in your room." I nodded, understanding. Our wifi router broke and we were still trying to fix it.

"So I had to find the outlet that let me plug directly into your wifi, which happened to be in the hallway closet. And like I said, I texted Jack's phone. Oh, and I put it in the beanbag chair because I was afraid that someone else could go into your room and find it, so I put it somewhere only a kid would sit."

"How did you get Jack's phone?" Jerry butted in.

I looked at the boy. "Valid question."

"It was outside Filafel Phil's when I left." He shifted on the bed. "I asked if you guys were okay because I was scared you had been taken, just like Jack."

I looked back at the list. "We also got a text from your number about 20 minutes after that. 'Everything you know is not what you think.'"

"Mmmm... that wasn't me. It had to have been the guy that took me."

"Jacob Bowman." Nathan spoke up from the back of the room.

"Right. And where is Jacob?" I turned to him.

"We found him based on Aaron's description." So that was the kid's name. "He was an office worker and we arrested him at his job. Police forces are traveling to his home outside the city right now."

I nodded, extremely happy we were finally getting Jack back. I turned to Aaron. "Continue."

"Okay. So I was found in the closet by the guy and he put a bag over my head. He picked me up and brought me down the stairs, put me in a car, and took me to his house. I eventually escaped, resulting in a broken arm and a beat up face. And a concussion."

"And Jack?"

"Right! Jack was across the room from me. I was put in the basement. It was really dark and kinda cold but I could tell he was hurt. I was tied up so I couldn't get to him, but I saw blood. He was sleeping, and I couldn't wake him up. I had a gag in my mouth. I surprised the guy and pushed him against the wall. I knew I couldn't go back for Jack and risk getting caught, so I ran to get help."

"That's good. And thank you for getting help for him. We would have never found him."

"You'rewelcome..." He slurred. "Anymore questions?"

Jerry grabbed the list from me. "Yeah uhm... the Cup Song. Why was Eddie tapping it?"

"Uhm..." Aaron scratched his head. "I have no idea why he was tapping it, but your sister was watching Pitch Perfect, probably the Cup Song part... I can't remember that."

Eddie looked at us, confused. I worked it out in my head. "Well... Eddie was at my desk, near the door. We were all on the other side of the room. He probably heard it, doesn't remember, and subconsciously started to tap the rhythm."

Eddie nodded slowly. "I guess."

"So Suit, what my sister called him because she actually saw him taking you from my house," I explained the name to Aaron. "Found you and took you because he couldn't have you telling anyone who he was. But did you see his face in the mall? Why would he come after you if you hadn't seen his face?"

"Uhm... I think I might have seen his face. During the fight, I think his mask was ripped off... I don't know. My head hurts." He started to rub his head. We gave him a moment.

Jerry glanced at the paper. "I saw a flash in the mirror when we were coming down from the stairs, which is I guess when you were going up."

"Oh..." He smiled. "That might have been Jack's phone. I think I was looking at the time."

"And why did you go through the backdoor, again?" Milton wanted to clarify the answer.

"I told you I was paranoid and I meant it. I was afraid he was outside disguised as the old man walking the dog or something. I cut through a couple yards to get to your backyard and through your backdoor to get in. I guess I wasn't as encompassed as I thought."

"Inconspicuous." I corrected him.

"That's what I said." He answered defiantly.

Milton looks at the list. "What about Jack's skateboard?"

I looked at him. "Do you think he went back the mall to throw out the skateboard? That would be stupid."

"Suit actually frequents Phil's a lot," Aaron filled in. "He goes everyday."

We sat in silence. "Nothing seemed... odd?"

"Well, no. Not really."

I thought about it as the guys all calmly questioned him.

"The guy was pretty chill." Aaron said.

"He kidnapped you and Jack and kept you in his basement." Milton put out.

Aaron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but he seemed like he was sorry. Kinda like he didn't mean for any of this to happen, I dunno."

"Hey," I cut in. "What if Suit accidentally left the skateboard, or maybe hid it because he was frantic. If he didn't mean to kidnap Jack and didn't know what he was doing, he could have left the skateboard. He could have hid it really quickly, probably because he saw Aaron. And then when he came back, he remembered it was still there."

Milton wasn't convinced. "So he just put a skateboard in the trashcan in broad daylight with no one saying anything?"

"No that's not it... the janitors take the trash out of every trashcan every night before closing the mall. The skateboard was still in there at like, 4 in the morning, so he had to have came back after hours and put it in there."

"But why leave it where it could be found? Why not bury it or something?" Eddie asked.

I juggled the question back and forth before Jerry answered. "Guys, what if he was there a little before we were, and frantically put it in the trash because he heard us coming?"

I nodded. "Good point."

There was a tap on the door. A man stuck his head in. He looked around the room before coming across Nathan. Walking in, we could see that he was nurse. "Can I talk to you, Mr. Whiles?" Nathan nodded and excused himself.

We sat in silence, but bliss. Nothing but good news was to come.

Nathan walked back into the room with the same face he always had on. Jack's parents stood up having been extremely quiet this whole time. "Have you found him? How is he?"

"The nurse said that he is in ICU right as we speak, but there was a big complication." The nurse walked back into the room.

"Are you Jackson Brewer's parents?" After a confirmation, he continued. "We were doing checks on him when we found a substance in his arteries and veins. It was done professionally, suggesting our office worker had a mortician to help him..."

Jack's parents gasped at the word 'mortician'.

"Embalming fluid is filling your son's body. I'm sorry to tell you... your son is dead."


End file.
